Heavy Goods Vehicle Tire Tread Segmentation for Grip and Wear
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Solution Overview
Problem
Heavy goods vehicle tires face a challenge in maintaining grip performance and tread rigidity on both wet and dry roadways while minimizing wear, as existing tread designs often compromise shear rigidity when trying to improve grip through cuts and void volumes.
Innovation Solution
A tread design featuring circumferential and transverse grooves with specific pitch and depth ratios, combined with hidden voids that emerge after partial wear, maintains shear rigidity and drainage capacity while reducing material volume to be worn away, ensuring lasting performance.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If a plurality of cuts (grooves or sipes) are formed in the tread to improve grip performance on wet ground, then grip performance is improved, but the rigidity of the tread significantly drops
Solution Approach 1:
The tread is segmented into multiple rows (edge rows and intermediate rows) with different cut densities. Edge rows have a lower density of transverse cuts while intermediate rows have a higher density, creating localized grip enhancement without compromising overall tread rigidity. This selective segmentation allows different regions to serve different functions.
Solution Approach 2:
Different regions of the tread are given different local properties: edge rows have fewer cuts to maintain structural integrity and rigidity, while intermediate rows have more cuts to provide enhanced grip performance. This local differentiation resolves the contradiction by applying cut density selectively where needed without affecting the entire tread's rigidity.
2Loss of substance
If the total thickness of tread material is reduced to minimize wear, then wear resistance is improved, but grip performance and drainage capacity are compromised
Solution Approach 1:
The tread depth is segmented into different levels across different rows. Intermediate rows have greater tread thickness providing enhanced grip and drainage, while edge rows have reduced thickness. This segmentation allows the tread to minimize overall material usage while maintaining sufficient thickness in critical grip areas.
Solution Approach 2:
Different regions of the tread have different local thicknesses optimized for their specific functions. Intermediate rows are thicker to provide grip and water evacuation capacity, while edge rows are thinner to reduce overall wear and material consumption. This local quality differentiation maintains performance while minimizing total material loss.
3Object-affected harmful factors
If transverse cuts are formed with high density to improve water drainage, then drainage capacity is improved, but the tread rigidity and wear resistance deteriorate
Solution Approach 1:
Water drainage functionality is segmented and concentrated in intermediate rows with high-density transverse cuts, while edge rows maintain lower cut density to preserve rigidity. This segmentation allows effective water evacuation without requiring high-cut density across the entire tread, thus maintaining structural strength.
Solution Approach 2:
Different regions are assigned different local cut densities based on their functional requirements. Intermediate rows have high cut density optimized for water drainage, while edge rows have low cut density optimized for maintaining rigidity. This local quality assignment resolves the contradiction between drainage and rigidity.
Data Source
AI summary
Tread having a maximum thickness PMU of material to be worn away during running, having: at least two grooves of circumferential overall orientation delimiting at least one intermediate row and two edge rows, a plurality of cuts of transverse overall orientation on each intermediate and edge row, representing, in the new state, a void of total volume Vco open onto the tread surface, at most equal to 13% of the total volume of the tread, channels or cavities extending under the tread surface in the new state, adapted to form new grooves after the tread has partially worn away, and having, in the initial state, a total volume Vcc at least equal to 30% of the total void volume Vco in the new state, intermediate rows of suffix (i) and edge rows of suffix (e) each provided with a plurality of cuts of transverse or oblique orientation distributed over each row evenly or near-evenly with a mean pitch of Pi and Pe respectively, having mean depths, Di and De respectively, which are at least equal to 20% of the thickness PMU and at most equal to thickness PMU, wherein:on the edge rows, Pe is such that 1.30<Pe/De<3.00, andon the intermediate rows, Pi satisfies 1.00<Pi/Di<1.70, andPe is greater than Pi.